I have just been taking a look at http://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/ . This website is a niche site which confines itself to military records, this is no bad thing as what is on offer are quality records with plenty of background information so that you understand the why, where and when of the documents.

The time span covered by this site’s records are from Medieval records dating from 1350 through the Crimean, Boer and 1st & 2nd World Wars. The documents are cross matched with information about regiments, bases and ships.

The search form is a breeze to use, enter first name, surname and record type and press the “Search Now” button. It is not necessary to enter details in all of these slots, for example I simply entered the surname POTTINGER and the results came up with 104 results.

POTTINGER 104 results

Napoleonic 1793 – 1815

4 records

Early 19th century

1 record

Victorian Conflicts 1857 – 1899

8 records

Boer War 1899 – 1902

5 records

WW1 1914 – 1920

51 records

WW2 1939 – 1945

21 records

Post WW2 1946 – present

1 record

Forces Reunited Living Veterans

13 records

Quite an impressive result for a relatively unusual name.

A growing number of family historians are specialising in researching their military ancestors only and this site will be an essential subscription for them. Options are monthly or yearly subscriptions.

I’ll be writing in-depth posts about the individual record sets later and also be adding some lessons using the data on the MadAboutGenealogy sister site www.teachyourselffamilyhistory.com.

An interesting article in this months WDYTYA magazine pointed me to this website which is dedicated to the men who fought & died in WW1 and who were from the Craven district of Yorkshire. The Craven district is the area within a 20 mile radius of Skipton in North Yorkshire.

So if you have an interest in this area take a look at this site, it is a great example of what people with an enthusiasm for history can achieve.

This website is authored by the sister of Jill Chambers who is well know to genealogists for her great work on the people involved and affected by the Swing Riots of the 1830’s. However Barbara’s interest is in the men who fought in the Napoleonic Wars, they must have some interesting conversations when they have a family get together in the Chambers households!

The wars were from 1803 – 1815 and ended following Napoleon’s final defeat at Waterloo on 18 June 1815.

This site is well worth looking at if you think you might be researching these wars.

About Me

History, particularly Family History is my passion. I have worked in libraries & archives, I teach family history, conduct workshops and give genealogy presentations. It seemed a shame to have all this knowledge & experience and not share it with others, so this website was born.